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CNN This Morning
Tornado Confirmed in Oklahoma, Two Reported in Kansas; Nine Western States Under Winter Weather Alerts; CIA Director: U.S. Confident China Weighing Sending Russia Lethal Aid; House Republicans to Launch Investigation into Train Derailment; Judge May Rule Today in Abortion Drug Case; History-Making Wins for Yeoh, Quan at SAG Awards. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired February 27, 2023 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got the power company out here. Oh, yes, look. Here we go. One God-damned house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two of them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, hit two houses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Wow.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Right? Good morning, everyone. Good Monday morning. Good weekend?
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good weekend. Monday, though. Arg.
HARLOW: You'll get there. We are glad you're with us. But we start with weather. There is a dangerous winter storm dumping quite a bit of snow on Southern California. That's right. Southern California. And unleashing tornadoes as it heads East. We are tracking the severe weather threat.
Also this --
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BILL BURNS, CIA DIRECTOR: We're confident that the Chinese leadership is considering the provision of lethal equipment.
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COLLINS: There's growing concern this morning that China may be ready to provide weapons to Russia. Could it be a game changer on the battlefields in Ukraine? What the head of the CIA is now saying.
LEMON: House Republicans taking aim at the Biden administration's handling of a toxic train disaster in Ohio. What we're now hearing about the potential investigations and hearings on Capitol Hill.
HARLOW: But we do begin with a dangerous and historic winter storm that is tearing across the nation right now. More than six feet of snow falling in parts of Southern California.
Hurricane-force winds whipping up blinding dust storms in Texas and powerful tornadoes ripping through Oklahoma and Kansas.
Take a look at this. This is the scene out of Norman, Oklahoma. Just South of Oklahoma City. A tornado touched down. Police and firefighters are searching through the wreckage this morning.
They say at least 12 people are injured. No reported deaths so far.
Listen to this woman that was inside her home with her family when the tornado struck.
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FRANCES TABLER, RESCUED FROM HOME AFTER BEING TRAPPED: Before I could even blink, I could hear the wind coming. All of a sudden, all the back windows where the kids' bedrooms are, I could hear them crashing and busting out.
And I got up, and the wind threw me back. And I'm screaming. It was like a blizzard inside the House with all the debris flying. I was screaming for my kids. You know, because they were in their bedrooms. I didn't know if they were hurt or anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Terrified mother. Ed Lavandera joins us this morning on the ground in Norman, Oklahoma.
Ed, it looks terrible behind you. What happened?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This storm system ripped across the state in breath-taking speed. But it has left haunting images like this. Massive pieces of plywood left in trees.
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LAVANDERA (voice-over): A massive storm system barreled through the Central Plains Sunday night.
AARON JAYJACK, STORM CHASER: Traditionally, the Southern Plains, Tornado Alley, if you will, doesn't really start to come alive with these tornadoes and these severe weather outbreaks until maybe march, especially April and May. That's the, you know, peak tornado season here in the Southern Plains. But you know, so this is quite an early wakeup call.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Multiple tornadoes touched down in the region, as well. In Norman, Oklahoma, a tornado caused downed power lines and road closures. MICHAEL ARMSTRONG, REPORTER, KOCO (via phone): This is terrible to
have this tornado going through Oklahoma like this. Just past 48th and Lindsey moving to the Northeast. And we're going to try to get back on I-40 and get out ahead of it again.
We're going as fast as we can. That is not good. Right there on the West side of Thunderbird, guys. It's getting even stronger.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The storm ripped roofs off homes and damaged cars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of real strong wind. I was standing out in the garage. My wife went to the neighbor's to get in the shelter. Wood and debris started flying and hitting things.
So I jumped in the backseat of a car in the garage real quick.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Two tornadoes were reported in Kansas on Sunday, leaving homes in the area destroyed.
Winds in the triple digits were felt. The highest in Memphis, Texas, where winds hit a staggering 114 miles per hour, the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.
In Lubbock, Texas, a dust storm rolled through, leaving visibility in the area to less than a mile.
And in Albuquerque, New Mexico, winds topped over 70 miles per hour, leaving overturned trees, and businesses damaged.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in shock. You know? But -- because we love our restaurant and we love our work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This amount of damage with this wind, I haven't seen anything like this for the 20 plus years that I've been living here.
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LAVANDERA (voice-over): This storm system started in California, where parts of Southern California saw a rare storm that dumped massive amounts of snow in the area. Huge snow totals were seen throughout the region, including Mountain High, which recorded 93 inches of snow through Sunday morning.
Rain was dumped on other parts of California, causing flooding and leaving cars stranded.
California firefighters were seen rescuing this driver by helicopter as floodwaters continued to rise. The storm left the ground so eroded that this RV fell into the Valencia River.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just kind of afraid we're going to have to evacuate if it gets any worse.
(END VIDEOTAPE) LAVANDERA (on camera): And, Poppy, if there is a couple of silver
linings through all of this, the worst kind of storm damage like you're seeing behind me has been very isolated into the areas where some of these tornadoes fell down rather quickly.
So that is good news in terms of just it's not widespread damage across this state.
But -- and also, with this wind event and the intense winds that we've seen over the last 24 hours here in the state, there's a great concern of widespread power outages.
We're about 30,000 customers in the state of Oklahoma without power this morning. We've noticed that that number has been dropping rather quickly in these overnight hours. So hopefully, that's something that gets under control rather quickly for residents here in Oklahoma, as well.
HARLOW: We really hope so. Ed Lavandera, thank you to you and your team for being there.
LEMON: Let's get to our meteorologist now, Chad Myers. Chad, this is some very strange weather. A friend in L.A. out of her home for three days. Her power was out. Downed trees in her neighborhood. This is in Los Angeles.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right, especially in L.A. mountains, too. And all of that snow. Some spots over 60 inches of snow.
It's the same energy, the same low pressure that moved through Oklahoma yesterday with a very serious situation here. And as Ed alluded to, over 100-mile-per-hour wind gusts.
These storms, though, were moving at 80 miles per hour. Those are storms you can't chase. You can't get out of the way. When you hear your warning for storms like this, you must get in the basement or someplace safe.
Here's 10 p.m. last night. There is Oklahoma City and Norman. Now look where this storm is now. You can hardly drive that quickly to where it is now to Little Rock, Arkansas.
The severe weather will be to the East. Winds are still gusting about 55 miles per hour. The severe weather centered over Indianapolis and also over Columbus, Ohio.
Look at this for 11 p.m. tonight. It starts to snow in New York City. And then it even begins to snow in Boston. I haven't really said "Boston" and "snow" in the same sentence all year.
So this could be a one- to five-inch snowfall across parts of the Catskills. Probably closer to two to four for the city, and then two to four for Boston itself.
We'll still watch this. But a slick morning commute coming up tomorrow morning, for sure.
LEMON: When is the last time you said "New York City" and "snow," as well?
MYERS: I know.
LEMON: Chad Myers --
MYERS: I was probably there covering it.
LEMON: Right. It's been a while. Chad, thank you. We'll check back.
COLLINS: Also this morning, the CIA director, Bill Burns, says the U.S. is, quote, "confident" that China is thinking about providing lethal aid, a.k.a. weapons, to Russia for its war in Ukraine.
Sources have told CNN that Beijing is considering sending drones and ammunition. But officials there have not made a final decision about whether or not they're ultimately going to do so.
The spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, weighed in this morning, declining to comment about these reports that China is considering doing so.
CNN's Kylie Atwood is live at the State Department.
Kylie, obviously, if China does ultimately decide to do this, it would have significant consequences on the battlefield. But also, what it would mean just for how China is viewing this conflict and its place on the world stage overall.
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. I mean, it would draw China much more closely to Russia than it even is right now.
Obviously, we know that there is a closeness in that relationship. U.S. officials have said they believe that there is reason for China not to do this.
What they're trying to do right now, Kaitlan and Don, and Poppy, is to publicly discuss the fact that they believe that China is seriously considering providing this lethal weaponry to Russia to be used in the war in Ukraine in an effort to try and deter China from actually going forward with it.
Because what they say right now is that Chinese leadership has not made a final decision on this right now.
The other thing that the Biden administration is doing is actually telling allies about this. So that it's not just the U.S. that is in opposition. But there are other choices around the world that are saying that China shouldn't do this.
The primary concern here is prolonging this conflict. If Russia is able to get more lethal weaponry, U.S. officials are worried about this war going on for longer than it already has. COLLINS: Yes. So obviously, they don't want this to happen. But have
U.S. officials signaled what the consequences for China would actually be if they do ultimately make this decision?
ATWOOD: They haven't specifically publicly talked about those consequences. What U.S. officials have done, what the secretary of state, Tony Blinken, has done is privately told China exactly what those consequences will be.
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What they're doing in public is saying that there are going to be some really high costs that China would inflict. Listen to what the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on CNN on Sunday about this.
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JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Beijing will have to make its own decisions about how it proceeds, whether it provides military assistance. But if it goes down that road, it will come at real cost to China. And I think China's leaders are weighing that as they make their decisions.
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ATWOOD: Obviously, I think we could expect sanctions to be part of those costs, and that wouldn't be great for China, given the economic troubles that they are already facing.
Yes. We'll see what they ultimately decide to do. Thank you for that reporting.
LEMON: The U.S. Department of Energy now finding that COVID-19 was likely the result of a leak from a Chinese lab in Wuhan. That is according to an updated classified intelligence report.
But CNN has learned the department only has low confidence in the findings. Other agencies assess it was a natural transmission.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan says that the intel community is divided on the issue.
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SULLIVAN: President Biden specifically requested that the national labs, which are part of the Department of Energy, be brought into this assessment, because he wants to put every tool at use to be able to figure out what happened here.
And if we gain any further insight or information, we will share it with Congress, and we will share it with the American people. But right now, there's not a definitive answer that has emerged from the intelligence community on this question.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: China's foreign minister has responded, saying a lab leak is highly unlikely. But China has not been forthcoming about COVID origins here -- or there, I should say.
Back here in the United States, the EPA has approved moving shipments of contaminated waste out of East Palestine, Ohio, where a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed earlier this month.
It will be sent by two Ohio cities. But one of those cities, the mayor says he is apprehensive.
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MAYOR GREGORY BRICKER, EAST LIVERPOOL, OHIO: It's definitely concerning. And we want it done the right way. But again, we're just going to be relying on them to guide us through this process.
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LEMON: I should say, it will be sent by -- it will be sent to two Ohio cities.
This comes as House Republicans vow to dig into what they're calling the Biden administration's flawed response to the disaster.
CNN's Lauren Fox joins us live from Washington, D.C., with more on this.
Lauren, good morning to you. What exactly are GOP lawmakers planning?
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, House Republicans looking to intensify their oversight over that toxic train derailment that happened earlier this month.
Specifically, three committees aiming to look into this crisis and the Biden administration's response, including the House Oversight Committee, the chairman of that committee, James Comer, sending a letter Friday afternoon to Pete Buttigieg, demanding documents, as well as answers to questions he has about the administration's response.
You also are seeing some of that response coming from other committees like the Energy and Commerce Committee. They have requested several things, including documents, information. That is due in March, as well as other information from EPA officials.
They want some EPA officials to testify. They also want their committee members briefed. And their leading chairman in a subcommittee is asking EPA officials to come before that committee. That's because he represents East Palestine, Ohio. The Infrastructure and Transportation Committee also keeping a close eye on the administration's response -- Don.
LEMON: All right. That's what -- that's what GOP lawmakers say. Do the Democrats planning to push back against GOP challenges? FOX: Well, I think that's part of it. I think bipartisan lawmakers
agree that this is a crisis in it East Palestine, Ohio. But the difference and the distinction you may see in what the Senate Oversight looks like, of course, the Senate controlled by Democrats, is they're going to be looking specifically at Norfolk Southern, what they did wrong and whether or not any past actions by the Trump administration may have had an impact.
So that's really the difference in how lawmakers are viewing this. It's important to remember, it is a bipartisan crisis that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle view this as a very serious issue in East Palestine, Ohio -- Don.
LEMON: Lauren Fox, Capitol Hill, thank you very much.
HARLOW: Coming up next for us on CNN THIS MORNING, it is being called the biggest abortion-related case since the overturning of Roe versus Wade. A federal judge in Texas will rule on whether to block the abortion pill. Paula Reid explains next.
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HARLOW: Look at that, a glorious sunrise this morning over New York City. Beautiful sunset last night, too. We're glad you're with us here on CNN THIS MORNING.
Let's take you to Texas, where a federal judge could rule as soon as today on a lawsuit seeking to block the use of abortion pills nationwide.
The judge is a Trump appointee. His decision could halt half of the legal abortions currently being carried out in this country.
Our senior legal affairs correspondent, Paula Reid, joins us now. This is fascinating, you know, what he's going to decide. And the grounds on how he's going to decide it. Can you explain that to us?
PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Poppy. This is the biggest abortion case since the Supreme Court overturned Roe last year.
This lawsuit was filed back in November by a group of anti-abortion medication associations and doctors, and it specifically targets the FDA's decades-old approval of Mifepristone. That is the first drug in the medication abortion process.
It's one of two drugs used for medication abortion. It blocks the hormone that is needed to sustain pregnancy, and it can be given as late as the tenth week.
Now as you just noted, medication abortion now makes up the majority of abortions obtained in the U.S. But this has become a flash point in the abortion debate in this country, following the overturning of Roe. Now, specifically, this lawsuit wants a preliminary and permanent
injunction, ordering the FDA to withdraw its approval of this drug for chemical abortions.
And they also want to target any efforts to make it any easier to get. Because it used to be required that you would have to go to an abortion provider to obtain this drug. But the FDA has tried to make that easier.
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COLLINS: And Paula, what do we know about the judge in this case? How fascinating this is and what this is going to look like. What do we know about him specifically?
REID: It's a great question. And, look, abortion rights advocates are worried here. They are likely to face a defeat, specifically because of who this judge is.
Now Judge Kacsmaryk, he is a Trump appointee, and he is someone who conservative activists have really sought out. Because in his tiny Amarillo division of the Northern Division of Texas, they know they are likely to get favorable results.
I mean, this is called judge shopping or forum shopping. And it's something that is commonly done, politically in politically-fraught cases. You look for a judge or a district where you're likely to get a win.
Before joining the court, though, he was the deputy general counsel at what is called the First Liberty Institute. It's a nonprofit religious liberty group. He worked on religious liberty litigation.
And look, though, any decision here to block access to medication abortion, even on a temporary basis, will have an enormous impact in this country.
And, you know, I also want to point out that there is a coalition of Democratic attorneys general who have come out in support of the FDA. And they make some important points.
They write the availability of this drug has been particularly critical in providing access to abortion in low-income and underserved and rural communities, where procedural abortion may be unavailable. They say eliminating access to this method will result in more abortions taking place later in pregnancy, further increasing costs and medical risks.
LEMON: All right. Thank you very much. We appreciate that.
HARLOW: Thanks, Paula. This is very fascinating. We'll talk to Steve Vladeck about it a little bit later in the show.
The fact that this was filed in Amarillo, Texas, where they just changed the rules so that only this judge can hear the case. It's fascinating, and this does bring up the issue of forum shopping, which is, by the way, done by conservative attorneys and liberal attorneys.
COLLINS: Yes.
HARLOW: We'll get into that in a little bit.
COLLINS: Yes. It will be fascinating to see what he actually decides.
HARLOW: Yes.
COLLINS: We'll be watching that closely.
Also this morning, we're tracking another major round of job cuts happening at Twitter. The social media company is going to be laying off 200 more workers. They did so over the weekend, actually.
Now Twitter says it has fewer than 2,000 employees left at the company. That is down significantly. It was at 7,500 when Elon Musk took over the company back in October.
The cut has hit production managers, data scientists, engineers, all of whose work keeps Twitter's features online. And the team that actually oversees how Twitter makes its money has cut from 30 people to now fewer than eight at the company.
LEMON: History was made several times at the SAG Awards last night. SEGUN ODUOLOWU is here to break down the big moments.
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KE HUY QUAN, ACTOR: Thank you. Thank you so much. This is a really emotional moment for me.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the actor goes to "Everything Everywhere All at Once."
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LEMON: Wow. I love Jamie Lee Curtis.
Anyway, will it be every award at every award show? All awards season -- for all award season long, I should say, for "Everything Everywhere All at Once"?
The Kung Fu science-fiction comedy swept the Screen Actors Guild Awards this weekend with a big win for Ensemble Cast. Michelle Yeoh also won Best Actress. She is the first Asian woman to win in that category.
And Ke Huy Quan also made history with his Best Supporting Actor win. He is the first Asian male to win a film acting award at the SAG -- at the SAG Awards, I should say.
So Jamie Lee Curtis also won Best Supporting Actress. Jamie Lee Curtis.
Joining us now, host of "Boston Globe Today," Segun Oduolowu. Good morning to you, sir. Amazing last night.
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, HOST, "BOSTON GLOBE TODAY": Good morning. So great to join you from Boston.
LEMON: Does this mean that "Everything Everywhere All At Once," that it's going to get everything, everywhere all at the Oscars? All up in the Oscars?
ODUOLOWU: It probably does. It probably does. Because what it means, really, if you remember back in 2002, when Halle Berry won for Best Actress, and Denzel Washington won for Best Actor.
The academy and it seems as if the bodies, right, that everything seems to be all in motion. And this feels like that type of momentum towards this movie. This swept at the SAG Awards.
It's important, because these are actors rewarding other actors. They thought that these were the best performances. And it feels like the -- you know, it feels as if now they're acknowledging what they hadn't before. And it felt like 2002 when Denzel and Halle won. It feels like Michelle Yeoh and Mr. Quan, this is their time.
COLLINS: And with Michelle Yeoh, I mean, she's so fantastic. And what I loved about her being in this movie -- by the way, this movie, I love it. One of the directors is actually from Alabama. It's all anything Alabama newspapers are talking about, because they're so proud about it.
But with Michelle Yeoh, when she took this -- took this role, she talked about what it meant for her, because she felt like she got to show her fans what she was capable of. To do a different role than she had ever played before. And also, just the historic nature of a win is so meaningful, as well.
ODUOLOWU: Yes. It's a difference between having a seat at the table and building your own table. Right? The writer -- one of the writers and the director, he's -- he's Asian. And the cast is predominantly Asian.
And, you know, as they said onstage, you know, Jamie Lee Curtis, that's a good Chinese name, for her to be a part of this. But it's the difference between, hey, you know, Can we join your party, or, We're going to build something over here. You come and join our party. What we're cooking over here at our table, you want to take a bite of.
And so I love the fact that this movie did that for these actors, these actresses and said, We don't need to conform to what has been offered us in the past. We will do dynamic roles.
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